Futile Devices Scans

“Uncle, where is Father?” Su Ying asked Mu Xueshi, sniffling through his little red nose.

Mu Xueshi thought for a moment, then lowered his head and said to Su Ying in his arms, “Your Father is waiting for us at Uncle’s Judicial Affairs Manor right now. He’ll come pick you up in a little while.”

Su Ying pressed his little mouth together and nodded, tear tracks still hanging on his face.

Seeing the child in his arms looking so heartbroken, Mu Xueshi immediately felt that he was truly despicable, actually deceiving a child for the sake of his own business.

When they reached the Judicial Affairs Manor, Mu Xueshi first handed Su Ying in his arms over to a servant before jumping down from the horse himself.

After Su Ying got down from the horse, he rushed around like a little airplane, charging into room after room, looking everywhere for his Father. As he searched, he cried and called out, his appearance pitiful beyond words.

Mu Xueshi quickly hugged Su Ying and kissed his cheek. “Your Father might not be here yet.”

The moment Su Ying heard this, he burst into loud sobs. He had cried so much over the past two days that his throat had gone hoarse, and his sobbing was mixed with fits of coughing.

“What should I do now!” Mu Xueshi looked at Eunuch Shangde with a mournful expression.

Eunuch Shangde steadied himself and thought for a moment, then said to Su Ying in Mu Xueshi’s arms, “Little Master, someone from His Highness the Second Prince’s side has sent word. They will arrive in a little while. If His Highness the Second Prince comes and sees Little Master crying, he will not take Little Master back.”

As soon as the words fell, Su Ying’s crying stopped abruptly.

“Little Master, do you want to play with a little carriage? Someone in this manor knows how to make one.”

Although Su Ying looked doubtful, he still gazed at Eunuch Shangde eagerly, showing that he wanted to play.

Seeing that this method was effective, Eunuch Shangde quickly carried Su Ying out of Mu Xueshi’s arms and took him toward the rear courtyard. He also ordered the servants to find the best craftsman in the imperial capital to make Su Ying a little carriage.

After Su Ying left, Mu Xueshi quickly looked at the servants beside him, picked the person who seemed the sharpest, and said to him, “Go to the palace and continue asking around for me. Find out where His Highness the Second Prince is, then personally go find him. I’ll reimburse your travel expenses when you come back.”

“Uh?” The servant understood only half of what he heard.

Mu Xueshi realized he had said something others would not understand, so he laughed dryly twice and explained to the man, “What I mean is, if His Highness the Second Prince has gone somewhere far away and you have to go find him, I’ll provide the travel money, and when you return, I’ll reward you properly too.”

“Yes, my lord.”

With only the two attendants who understood autopsies left beside him, Mu Xueshi walked toward the room where Wu Cai had met with trouble, his heart hanging in suspense.

“My lord, judging from the strange odor in the deceased’s mouth, it seems the deceased inhaled some kind of gas and was poisoned that way.”

Gas? Mu Xueshi sniffed and asked the attendant who had spoken, “Then why are we fine?”

The attendant smiled. “My lord, the deceased has already been dead for three or four hours. The gas in this room has long since dispersed.”

“No, there should still be some left.” Mu Xueshi deliberately avoided looking at the person on the ground and looked around the room instead.

Suddenly, a small hole in the window paper caught Mu Xueshi’s attention. He walked over, looked at the small hole, and said, thinking himself clever, “This should have been poked open by the murderer in order to blow the gas inside.”

“My lord…”

When Mu Xueshi heard the attendant call him, he turned back to look at him and found the man wearing an innocent expression.

“What is it?”

“My lord, I was the one who poked that open. This morning, when I came to deliver food to the deceased, I suddenly felt something was wrong, so I poked through the window paper.”

Mu Xueshi smiled awkwardly. “I forgot. Sorry.”

“My lord, I think the gas must have been blown in from the roof. I will climb up and take a look right away to see whether any roof tiles have been lifted.”

After saying this, the other attendant walked into the courtyard, leaped into the air, and vanished from Mu Xueshi’s sight.

Honestly… Even an attendant is better at martial arts than me. When will I be able to fly over eaves and walk on walls…

Thinking this, Mu Xueshi sighed and sat down on a stool in the room, his eyes landing on the teapot and teacups on the table.

“I’ve got it.” Mu Xueshi’s mind turned, and he picked up the teapot, shaking it. There was water inside.

“Poison gas must have gotten into this water. Take this and test it. We should be able to know what poison it is.”

The attendant crouching on the ground examining the corpse brightened at once and praised Mu Xueshi, “My lord, what a good method.”

As he spoke, the attendant poured the water from the teapot into a small bottle, then took out a piece of pure white cloth and poured some of the water from the small bottle onto it before studying it carefully.

The attendant who had jumped onto the roof also jumped back down just then. After patting the dust from his body, he walked to Mu Xueshi’s side and bowed. “My lord, one of the tiles above was indeed lifted. It seems the murderer blew the poison gas directly into the room from the roof.”

Before Mu Xueshi could speak, he suddenly heard a loud shout from inside the room. It was the voice of the attendant within.

“You found it, right?” Mu Xueshi asked as soon as he entered.

The attendant shook his head and said to Mu Xueshi, “This servant was not certain whether the poison was the same as what this servant guessed, so I wanted to dissect the corpse and examine it carefully. But when I moved the deceased, I discovered two blurry words beneath his arm.”

Mu Xueshi had originally wanted to walk over and look for himself, but after thinking about it, he decided to forget it. It would be better to let the attendant look for him.

“My lord, it seems to be… the two words ‘adultery.’”

“Adultery?” Mu Xueshi could not help saying aloud. What familiar words. During these past two days after he saw Wu Cai again, Wu Cai had kept saying those two words over and over. Why exactly had he been saying them? Was the adultery he referred to Mu Xueshi himself, or someone else? Had he truly gone mad, or had he been pretending?

At this moment, Mu Xueshi felt that he had many doubts left unresolved, but the most important person was already dead. Now, the case before him had turned from one into two, and he did not know whether the two were connected.

“My lord, should we inform his relatives?”

“He does not seem to have any relatives…” Mu Xueshi turned to another attendant and said, “Go to Changxin Courtyard and find someone named Li Qian. He should count as Wu Cai’s only relative.”

“Yes.”

Watching the direction in which the attendant left, Mu Xueshi sighed to himself. But when he turned around, he was immediately startled.

“What are you doing?”

The remaining attendant held a bright, gleaming knife in his hand. Seeing Mu Xueshi ask him with a frightened expression, he quickly explained, “My lord, do not be afraid. Did this servant not say just now that I needed to dissect the corpse and test for poison?”

“Not yet…” Mu Xueshi took a deep breath. “Wait until his relative arrives, then we’ll decide.”

“Oh.” The attendant stood up resentfully.

About half an hour later, Mu Xueshi saw a graceful figure at the entrance of the Judicial Affairs Manor and immediately realized Li Qian had arrived. Following behind Li Qian was his elder sister, Li Gui.

Li Gui had come today wearing plain-colored clothes, with only two simple hairpins inserted in her hair. She looked nothing like the Li Gui in Mu Xueshi’s only impression of her.

Li Gui simply gave Mu Xueshi a brief greeting, then walked toward the room where Wu Cai had met with trouble. Mu Xueshi remembered how enthusiastic Li Gui had been the first time she met him, and compared with this unfamiliar distance now, it made his heart feel somewhat uncomfortable.

With only Li Qian and Mu Xueshi left, Mu Xueshi looked at that refined, beautiful face and asked somewhat bitterly, “You’re not going to bow to me too and call me ‘my lord,’ are you?”

“If you grant me special permission, naturally I would rather not call you that,” Li Qian said lightly.

Hearing Li Qian speak, Mu Xueshi immediately felt his mood improve a great deal. He quickly took Li Qian’s hand and said, “Then I’ll give you permission for a lifetime. From now on, you don’t have to call me ‘my lord.’”

Li Qian gently tugged at Mu Xueshi’s hat veil, his expression very intimate, as if telling Mu Xueshi that he had always regarded him as a friend.

“My poor sworn younger brother, Sister will definitely help you get rid of that villain.”

Hearing Li Gui’s crying voice from inside, Li Qian also walked over, and Mu Xueshi followed behind him.

“Big Sister, don’t be too sad.” Mu Xueshi crouched down to support Li Gui.

Even while crying, Li Gui’s tearful eyes were still very beautiful. The face faintly visible beneath that thin veil made Mu Xueshi immediately think of the Third Prince’s aunt.

Why do beauties all like covering their faces with thin veils?

“My lord, you must find the murderer for this sworn younger brother of mine.”

Mu Xueshi signaled for the servants in the room to withdraw first, leaving only the three of them and Wu Cai, who had already lost his life.

“Big Sister, don’t say such polite words to me in the future. Li Qian and I are so familiar with each other, so in private, let’s just address each other by name.”

Li Gui had already liked Mu Xueshi very much to begin with. Now, hearing him say this, she had no reservations and leaned against his shoulder, crying for a while.

Li Qian, meanwhile, became suspicious of the piece of white cloth the attendant had placed on the table. He walked over, fixed his gaze on it for a few moments, then took out a small stick of unknown material. First, he dipped it in water, then placed it on the cloth.

Mu Xueshi looked at Li Qian and said, “If testing the poison this way is inconvenient, you can also use the water inside the teapot. That water has all been infused with the poison powder.”

“No need. This is enough.”

When Li Gui heard the two of them speaking, she stopped crying and stood up, walking toward Li Qian.

“So this sworn younger brother of mine really was harmed by someone. I suppose the person who harmed him must have a guilty conscience to do something like this.”

Mu Xueshi felt as though he had heard a clue and hurriedly asked Li Gui, “Big Sister, what do you mean by that?”

“Hasn’t there been one person who wanted to harm this younger brother of mine from beginning to end?”

Mu Xueshi paused, then asked, “Big Sister is talking about my mother?”

Li Gui’s expression changed slightly, but she said nothing.

Mu Xueshi already had his answer from Li Gui’s expression, so he did not continue asking. After all, what Steward Wang had told him was already detailed enough.

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